


Lie

by samslostshoe



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, F/M, Malfoy Manor, Mudblood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-16 06:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/859049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samslostshoe/pseuds/samslostshoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix at Malfoy Manor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lie

"Wait. All except…except for the Mudblood."  
A trill of fear shot through Hermione at these words. There was no telling what Bellatrix would do to her. Hermione felt herself start to tune the world out, and she barely heard Ron's offer to replace her. It was as though her body knew that pain was coming, and it was bracing itself.  
Ron and Harry were shoved away, out of her line of sight, but Hermione hardly noticed. She was completely and utterly focused on the wicked curve of the silver knife that Bellatrix now held in her left hand. She raised the wand that she held casually in the other.  
"So, dearie, let's have a little talk, hmmm? Crucio!"  
Hermione felt the pain rip through her and heard a horrible scream. It was a few seconds before she realized it was hers. She could hear Ron calling from somewhere below her. "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"  
"Where did you get this sword, you dirty little Mudbood?"  
Lie, Hermione thought, I must lie. "We found it, we found it in the woods!"  
"Liar! CRUCIO!  
"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"  
"I'm going to ask you again! Where did this sword? Where?"  
"We found it—we found it—PLEASE!" The pain was unbearable, and the screaming wouldn't stop. It came involuntarily, an unceasing screech coming from her mouth.  
"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth! Crucio!"  
The screaming was nearly overpowering. She could feel herself slipping, slipping…  
"HERMIONE!" Ron's voice was like an anchor. It kept her tethered to where she was, to the terrible pain she was in, to the necessity of lying.  
"What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I will run you through with this knife!" Bellatrix's face was contorted with equal amounts of rage and fear as the brought the tip of the knife down to rest on Hermione's throat.  
"Your vault? I don't—AAAAAH!" Bellatrix had dug her knife very slightly into her neck.  
"What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!"  
"HERMIONE! HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"  
"Nothing! We don't have anything!"  
"How did you get in to my vault? Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?"  
"We only met him tonight! We've never been inside your vault…"  
Lie.  
"It isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!"  
"A copy? Oh, a likely story!"  
Hermione lost all sense of herself when the next curse hit. The world became fuzzy and distant, and black was slowly encroaching in the corners of her vision. Bellatrix, who had been clutching the collar of Hermione's jacket, let go, and Hermione crumpled to the floor. Time was moving in jolts and lurches. There was a goblin there, and then blood. And she heard Bellatrix offer her to the werewolf, and she smiled because she knew that there was only a small amount of pain left and then it would be over.  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ron leapt into the room, wand aloft, and shot a disarming spell at Bellatrix. And Harry was there two, and the room was ablaze with flying jets of light. Hermione felt long fingers grasp her hair, pull her up. And she passed out.  
She woke to more pain, as the glass shards of something vast—the chandelier?—cut into her skin. She opened her eyes, and there he was. Her anchor, pulling her up and out of the wreckage, carrying her as one might carry a sleeping child to bed. She heard nothing, saw nothing, but his face, and she knew that she never wanted to have her anchor leave her again.


End file.
